I have a love/hate relationship with the holidays. Mostly, I find I’m glad when Christmas is over and a new year is coming. Time to get back to the routine, get stuff sorted out, put back to rights, whatever you want to call it.

I like a New Year !  2009 has been full of crap, if you ask me, and I’m looking forward with hopeful anticipation to a much improved 2010.  Now that the holiday horrors are finished, I can settle back in to writing my current novel – and starting in January my friend Pete and I are each hand-writing in a sort of friendly “competition” with each other. We’re each working on novels at the moment, but we’re going to ALSO work on “notebook novels” wherein we’re required to hand write a novel, in single-subject notebooks, alongside our works in progress.

This should be fun! (she said with eyes happily rolling)  Actually I really enjoy writing by hand, even if my hand doesn’t enjoy it quite so much. It’s a great break from the glow of a computer screen, and the dramatic white of that blank cyber-page. You can sit somewhere else, take it with you, curl up with it on the couch or in bed, and hand writing makes you seriously slow down and give greater thought to each word.

It’ll be interesting for me to find out if I CAN work on two novels at the same time. Some writers can, some can’t. Personally, I’ve never really tried – but there’s no better time than NOW, eh?

So here we go. Into 2010, starting January with a hopeful heart, flippin’ the bird to 2009, and standing fast against the … well, insert something poetic here, I’m tapped out!

Power to the People!

Make Love, Not War!

Are there any cookies left?

I figure, what the hell – now you can buy When The Stars Walk Backwards as an eBook.

Just keep in mind it’s old, written back in 1998 – and it’s f-ing huge!  I don’t write short stuff, but la’wd-a’mighty, this is a long one.

Available in these fine formats, via Smashwords:

epub, PDF, RTF, .mobi (Kindle) Plain Text, Palm Doc (.pdb) and .lrf for the Sony Reader.

Power to the People!

Make Love, Not War!

Merry Christmas!

Ten points if you can name the movie that came from.

Another twenty points if you realize that actually, the future is here. The future that is eBooks, I mean.

I remember, back in the early days, when I started writing seriously – not when I started writing, mind you, but when I started to realize I could find an audience online – the Interwebbies were still quite young, and I was stretching my fingers and enjoying myself, publishing online and having a good time.

Back then, the idea of being published was a far-fetched dream that I really didn’t fuss to much about. I was happy putting my fiction up on an old-style website, where readers could sit back and bask in the glow of the computer screen, reading their nights away. Ssince I’d just spent so much time in front of the computer writing these stories, I couldn’t fathom wanting to sit down and read them that way.

I always figured people just printed them out, then curled up on the couch somewhere comfy and read the printed papers, at their leisure. I mean, hell, this was back in the days of dial up! Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and your ISP had to have a local area code. You’d smack a few rocks together to make fire, then dial up and hope you could connect.

Yet, time after time I’d get an email from a fan who’d just spent the whole evening in front of his or her computer, reading the entire thing.

Boggled my brain, I don’t mind sayin’. But then, I figured, they hadn’t just spent several months in front of the monitor typing out the whole thing, so maybe reading a book on a screen wasn’t really all that big of a deal to most people.

I love the printed word, my self. I love buying physical books, flipping through the pages, bending the corners back while I read so my fingers can fidget with the edges. Curling up in whatever chair happens to be handy, or relaxing at the beach. I love the feel of paper, the smell of a book.

Then along came eReaders, like the Kindle or the Sony or this new Nook, not to mention the smartphones and the list grows daily.

I figured they were just fads, or something for the younger set who probably don’t even buy actual “books” anymore. Kids who were raised with these computer thingies, who don’t think twice about having a constant connection to the outside world, plugged in and glowing back at them 24-7.

Yeah, I know, pretty short sighted of me. They’re not my thing – I still prefer a physical book for a lot of reasons, most of which involve the needless spending of real money to do something I can already do without. But that’s not to say they’re not popular.

When I created Midnight Reading, I figured Lulu was my best bet for sales. I figured, based on my own shortsightedness, that folk would still prefer to purchase a hard copy and have a physical book. But knowing I could be wrong, I decided to also use the Lulu eBook feature.

I was sure, in my own little way, that I’d sell maybe 2 or 3 eBooks, tops.

Well, color me corrected ! Thanks to Smashwords and their ability to provide eBooks in every electronic format there is – I can honestly say I’ve become more of an eBook author than I’d ever expected.

If I had to ratio this to make sense, I’d have to say that for every 1 hard copy of my work that goes out the door, another 10 eBooks take flight. They’re incredibly popular, and thanks to technology, they can be easily sampled first. Add to that the ability to sell the work at a greatly reduced price, and who can blame Today’s reader for making the eBook choice?

And if you don’t want to shell out a few hundred for a dedicated reader, eBooks fit nicely on a smartphone, or PDA. Even the computer you already own, that you’re using to read this blog post with.

There’s no reason any eBook should cost you more than a couple of bucks – but I’ve seen quite a few listed at ridiculous prices. Both Smashwords and Lulu are taking a cut, so if the author wants to make a few pennies for his or her efforts, there’s nothing wrong with a full-length novel selling for $2.00 or less. But again, I have motives that differ from other writers.

I work on an alternate revenue stream. (another 5 bonus points if you know where that’s from)

Granted, I personally still prefer hard copies. After all, we can still read the Dead Sea Scrolls, but I can’t access data from 10 years ago that was saved on an old tape drive.

But far be it for me to stand in the way of progress! And in light of that, I’ll have a special eBook Christmas surprise for my long-time reading fans.

Power to the People!

Make Love, Not War!

Hey, who let the pterodactyl out ?

If you’ve been paying attention, you’re aware that in order for an Indie Author to own his or her ISBN, they have to be purchased directly, in batches of 10, for a price of $245.00 plus a $30.00 registration fee, for a total of $275.00 for 10 numbers.

Or you can buy them one at a time, from My Identifiers (dot) com at $125.00 each, but that requires you purchase a subscription to the site My Identifiers and continue your subscription.

Lulu and a few other sites, like Createspace, can sell you one for around $99.00, but these numbers are owned by Lulu and Createspace, not you. Keep that in mind.

But you know all that. You’ve been reading this blog, and doing some research, so you’re fully aware. And I’ll grant you this, buying them in a block of 10 is the most economical solution. The price (including the processing fee) is then $27.50 per ISBN. And you already know, because you’re smart like that, you’ll need one number for your paper back, one number for your hard back, another number for your audio book, and yet one more number for that highly sought-after eBook.

So one title, if you go each route, will require no less than 4 numbers. That’s 4 of your 10 used up on one novel so far.

But wait – we’re not done yet.

Which format are you using for that eBook?

Did you realize, you’ll need A SEPARATE ISBN FOR EACH AND EVERY FORMAT?

“You’re shittin’ me!”

The standards regarding ISBN’s require that every – single – format needs it’s own unique ISBN. So let’s play Give Me An Example, shall we?

In The Time Of Dying (which has no ISBN, if you were wondering) is available in paperback, will later on this winter be available in hardback with added bonus material, is also available, through Smashwords, in no less than 8 eBook formats.

Eight.

Depending on your equipment, your needs, and your desires, In The Time Of Dying can be purchased as: HTML, Java, Kindle, Epub, PDF, RTF, LRF (the Sony eReader) and Palm Doc.

Eight different and distinct formats, each would require their own ISBN – if I’d gone that route. So my block of 10 ISBN’s would be used up, completely, by one single novel.

If I’d done this with everything that I have available now, each novel in each format, including paperback, I’d have to purchase 70 ISBN’s to a tune of $1,925.00 or I could go ahead and purchase a block of 100 for $960.00 (including registration fee).

The International Book Sellers Number was never designed to accommodate eBooks, and has failed thus far to catch up or entertain alternatives. Amazon refuses to even bother with ISBN’s on any of their Kindle editions, having instead invented the ASIN to track their Kindle eBooks. Even novels with ISBN’s don’t get them assigned when Amazon puts out a Kindle book.

ISBN’s have their place, I’ll give you that, but it’s a place mostly reserved for physical books, and Traditionally published authors. It’s a system designed to help Publishers track information related to sales, and for Bookstores and Libraries to keep track of titles and place orders. Until the system catches up with the eBook, and stands ready and willing to adapt and learn with the constantly changing times, I fail to see the need for any Indie author to bother. If you want to, feel free and don’t let anyone talk you out of it. But if you’re saving up for that ISBN because you believe that having it will somehow give your self published title more clout, more importance, and some form of prestige, keep this in mind – Anyone with a thick wallet can get an ISBN.

I don’t know about you, but a thick wallet and willingness to spend money don’t equal prestige, clout or importance in my world.

Power to the People!

Make Love, not War!

Is the turkey done yet?

Today I came across yet another group of people who seem completely ignorant as to the differences between Vanity and Self / Indie Publishing, and I have to admit, that kind of ignorance drives me up a wall.

I could ignore them, and I do for the most part, but I realize there are some out there who honestly don’t understand the difference. Some who are trying to get it straight in their own minds, or who would like to explain it to others.

So it’s for them that I’d like to put things very simply –

Vanity = Pay-to-Play

Self Publishing = Blood, sweat and effort.

If you’ve paid someone to take your novel and make it possible for yourself and others to purchase copies – if you’ve given a company several hundred to several thousand dollars to format, perhaps proof read, and set up your work in a POD model, then sold you a few hundred copies or promised you, for a fee, that you’d receive a blurb in some promotional paper somewhere – you’ve been Vanity published. If you forked over your hard earned cash to purchase a “package” of promotional materials, received a trunk load of your own book, and are under the impression you’ve just hit the big time – you’ve been Vanity published. If you’ve fallen for the idea that giving someone money will cause you to become a Published Writer of Books – you’ve been Vanity published.

If your book wouldn’t exist without you having cracked open your checkbook, you’ve been Vanity published.

If this makes you happy, then I’m happy for you. Some people enjoy being Vanity published, have the cash to spend, and get pleasure out of doing it. Vanity in it’s many forms has separated humans from their cash since Time began, and will continue to do so until we are all dust and silicone implants.

Vanity publishing isn’t bringing down the industry, ruining anyone’s chances for legitimate or Indie publishing, or “dumbing down” the reading public. Vanity has no effect whatsoever on traditional publishing because it never, ever, not even once, sits on the shelf next to a traditional title. The only way a Vanity published book makes it into the bookstore is if the author carries it in his or her self. Book buyers never see them, never know they exist.

Right now, a bunch of writers and wannabes have their panties in a bunch because the traditional romance publisher Harlequin is offering up vanity publishing. I’ve seen posts and blogs decrying the end of life as we know it, the dilution of a time-honored brand, and whoa-is-me fears of rubbing elbows with the unwashed.

Vanity has existed for a long, long time, and it hasn’t ruined traditional publishing yet. Again, those books don’t sit on the shelves in the bookstores. They’re not promoted, they don’t even get within sniffing distance of the NYT best sellers list. Oprah wouldn’t even stoop over to kick one aside.

In other words – OMG what’s the BFD?

Did you all forget Publishing is a business? And Business exist to make money. And there’s money to be made in Vanity publishing. Craptons of it. Too many writers and writer-hopefuls have a very exalted view of writing and the business of publishing that, frankly, just isn’t true. They should be more upset by the fact that most of the publishing houses now are really owned by only a very few mega conglomorates. Business people who probably haven’t read a fiction title since they were in Jr. High.

Now, how does Vanity differ from Self or Indie publishing?

Simple. No money exchanges hands.

The Self published author is using POD, via Lulu or Createspace or whathaveyou, to make their novel available to the buying public. They’ve done their own editing, proofing and formatting. They’ve probably purchased an ISBN (more on that further down this post) and they still own every single copyright allocated to their work. A Self published author hasn’t spent a single dime. The only expense is if he or she wanted to purchase a copy for themselves.

What about an Indie published author? What’s the difference, then, between Self publishing and Indie publishing?

That’s simple, too, and it boils down to a personal choice.

Where the Self published author will have used Lulu, or Createspace, et al, to purchase/supply an ISBN for their book – the Indie author hasn’t.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll remember that if you allow Lulu or Createspace or whoever you’re using to assign the ISBN to your book – they own that ISBN. You haven’t given up any rights, but they own your ISBN number. So while you’re a Self published author, there’s a tiny little piece of your work that you don’t own.

Is that a big deal? Only you can answer that. I say no, it’s not, but it’s a very personal choice and has some ramifications, mostly involving price. Let Lulu put an ISBN on your book, for instanct, and not only do they own that, they’re going to jack up the price of your book for the privilege of being listed in Bowkers and available to all chain retail outlets. Your paperback just went from retailing at $14.95 to a retail price of $37.95 – with all of the added profit going everywhere but your wallet.

The Indie author has either purchased his/her own ISBN, listing him/her self as the publisher of record – or – has opted not to bother with an ISBN altogether.

That, again, is a personal choice. There is no right or wrong here, including Vanity. If you realize what you’re getting when you dive in, and desire to swim in that pool regardless, then there IS no right or wrong. There is no inferior or superior, either.

And yes, I’m talking to you Traditionally published writers, as well. You’re not better than the Vanity, Self or Indy – you’re simply Different. You are Other Than. The Traditional author’s novel has been vetted by an agent, and editor, and a publishing company – and will get to spend a little time sitting on a bookstore shelf.  That is an important distinction, but not the golden ticket to Wonkaville.

The Self published, the Indie published, and even the Vanity people, are vetted by the reading public. They do not sit on bookstore shelves, but they are also not subject to remaindering. They’re not going to reach the NYT best seller list, but sometimes they sell more copies than a mid list author. They won’t get shiny display space in Barnes & Noble, but they won’t be removed from the shelf to make room for the next big title, either. Among the Self and Indies are just as many gems as the Traditionals, and just as many steaming piles of illiterate goo as the Traditionals (it’s all a matter of taste, determined by each individual reader). Which is why some love Twilight while others would rather scoop out their corneas with a soup spoon.

I have more to say about ISBN’s and why I’ve chosen not to use them, but I’ll save that for the next post. Until then,

Power to the People!

Make Love, not War!

No way are those boobs real!

First let me say, I love Dell computers. I have two Inspirons and a Dell Mini, and absolutely love them – as far as hardware goes, I’ve had no issues at all, and I’ve had other computers. Compaq, Gateway, even a custom-made number that caught on fire one morning and burned (melted) to the ground.

I love Dell’s COMPUTERS.

Lately, I’ve grown to hate Dell.

When I buy my computers, I like to purchase them directly from Dell, instead of buying them in a store somewhere. Mostly because you can customize every aspect of the hardware and software, and also because back in the day, that was the only way you could get a Dell, and I got used to that.

Several weeks ago now, I purchased a Dell Mini – in purple – to use as an external hard drive storage, and a mobile toy. It’s adorable, at only 2lbs it’s a lot easier to carry to a coffee shop for a day of writing than my 15lb Inspirons, and with the added battery I had Dell install, I can go without plugging in to the mothership for nearly 11 hours.

And yes, I bought it direct. In the stores, you could only get the Mini in black, and they didn’t have the spare battery, or the software I wanted. So I bought direct, knowing full well what that would mean . . . as in, extra added shite I’d have to delete right out of the box.

See, Dell loves to put on “extras” that you don’t want, don’t need, and really REALLY don’t want to leave on there. There’s the usual, stuff like McAfee, the industry’s worst anti-virus anti-spyware software available. Trial versions of things like MSN and Quickbooks, and that annoying and spy-ridden Google Toolbar thingie.

But Dell also likes to sneak this little program on there, called the Dell Experience or something (I forget the exact name) and that’s where the trouble starts.

See, the Dell Experience thingie looks, for all intents and purposes, like a helpful little tool, standing ready to assist you in teaching your computer what you’d like it to do. The first thing it wants to teach you is how to play Spy On Me. This little game is really played by Dell only, you’re just an unwilling participant. It’s a game that sends Dell every little tidbit of information about your day. When you go online, where you GO when you’re online, what you click on, who you talk to, what you buy, where you wander when you’re wandering, what you use your computer for, what programs you use, what you DO, every little keystroke.  It’s like a little reverse Lojack.

It’ll just sit there, happily eating up your hard drive, slowing down your computer, and spying on your every single move. Then all of that information is relayed to the Dell mothership, where it’s digested, and most likely sold for all we know. They say it’s for enhancing your experience. They tell you it’s for diagnosing things, and optimizing your computer for YOU. They say all sorts of things. Double-plus good!

Dell started doing this, well at least back to 2006 when I bought my last Inspiron. That’s when I found this new little program for the first time, and removed it before ever taking my new laptop online. I scrubbed that sucker clean off, then after removing all the other flotsam and jetsam Dell automatically loads, my new laptop was a speedy little camper, allowed to surf and work under the protection of better spyware and virus condoms.

Low and behold, two months after that, I got a call from India. Seems they’d noticed I hadn’t taken my new Dell Inspiron on the Internet as of yet, and they were here to happily assist me in learning how to surf the web and enjoy all the benefits I wasn’t using with my new laptop.

I explained to the nice lady that I had, in fact, been online for months now, after having deleted her company’s spyware. She muttered something about not realizing that could be done, and hung up.

For years, I’ve looked back at that and chuckled, and didn’t give it a lot of thought. Then when my new Dell Mini arrived, I knew to look for that same software program, found it (it will happily inform you that it’s going to send data about you and your computing needs directly back to the mothership, if you bother to read that screen) – and once again scrubbed my new computer clean. Then removed all the other garbage that was added “for my benefit” and got some real protection, then allowed the new little fella online.

Then it happened. I expected it, really, but at the time my mind was on so many other things that at first, I had no idea who this man on the phone was, and how he knew I had a new Dell Mini. These guys aren’t calling from India anymore, they’re calling from so far deep South I can’t understand a word they’re saying, and I even have relatives in Alabama! Then, after saying something rude and hanging up on him, I realized that was someone from Dell asking if he could please assist me in getting the most out of my new Dell purchase by learning how to get online.

Fark.

Well I figured, having hung up on him, it was in the past.

Until the next day, when another phone call came, this time a woman, from Dell, deep southern accent and talking as fast as a teenage girl on crack, once again wishing to ascertain how my day was going so far, was I in good health? Was I enjoying my new Dell Mini, and would I like her to assist me in going online?

I said something rude, I don’t remember what exactly (I have no patience for stuff like this) and told her never to call me again.

The next day, another man called. From Dell (do they have a Bayou office?). Asking how my day was going. I told him where he could go, and that he might need sunscreen, then told him never to call me again (they’re calling work, mind you, not home)

The next day, another one. Another woman. I didn’t even let her finish her “Hello”.

Today, another one. I demanded they stop calling, that if they phoned me one more time, I would never, as long as I lived, purchase another single thing from Dell.

I know they’ll call again tomorrow.

Maybe my next computer will be a Mac. Either way, I pity the sap who’ll be on the other end of the phone when they call again, because I’m not going to hang up until someone’s bleeding.  Unreasonable and silly?  Maybe, but being paranoid keeps me safe, and keeps shite off my computers. I prefer the shoot first, bury ‘em later approach to life.

Power to the People!

Make Love, not War!

“Hello, I was a PC. One more phone call from Dell, and I’ll be a Mac.”

So I’ve just created my first hardcover book, my older title When The Stars Walk Backwards, and I have to say I’m stunned at the size.  I don’t expect any sales, honestly, I just did this for myself and decided there was no reason not to make it available to anyone who might want it – but honestly it’s so huge the price is outrageous.  I had to lessen the font size just so Lulu could make a hard copy. They draw the limit at 800 pages, and this whopping tome came out at 867 pages !

After some fussing and shrinking, I finally managed somewhere around 738 pages, in hardback, with a dust cover.  Hopefully it turned out as nice as it seems, but rest assured – you could kill an intruder with this thing.  Unfortunately that also means it’s not cheap. By eliminating any profit on my part, I was able to keep it under $30.00, but seriously, that’s ridiculous.

The one thing I am proud to show off is the cover – I’ve found making covers to be incredible fun!  So, if you’re curious and want to see how pretty When The Stars Walk Backwards is, it’s now available at my Midnight Reading Lulu store.  If the sticker price makes you dizzy – well – you’re not alone!  But honestly, I really did this just for my own sake.  A bit of nostaligia, for a novel that represents a beginning, an indulgence, and just plain fun.

I’d been thinking, for some time now about doing this – and having toyed around a bit with some cover art and designs, I’ve finally decided that I’m going to release an older novel of mine in hardback just in time for the holidays.

Now, this isn’t anything new – in fact, it’s been around the block a few times, even on this very blog. It’s an older novel called When The Stars Walk Backwards, and was featured right here, a chapter at a time, a little over a year go (give or take). In the past, I’ve gone as far as to make apologies for this novel, having written it so long ago, and having grown stronger as a writer since then. But honestly, I’ll never feel the need to apologize for the story I told, or the characters I created.

It’s not War and Peace, but it’s not heaving bosoms of lusty vampire angst, either.

It won’t be available on the Midnight Reading website, and it won’t be made available it eBook form (at least not right away). I don’t want anyone confusing this novel for something I’ve just written, and I don’t expect – honestly – many sales at all. Mainly I’m doing this for my own benefit, and making it available for those who have taken the trouble of asking me in the past.

So, for those of you who always had a soft spot in your hearts for When The Stars Walk Backward, you’ll be happy to know the hard cover will be available via Lulu shortly (I’m just working out some kinks and details in the design and back flap). For those of you who prefer not to sample my writing from 11 years ago, just keep enjoying In The Time Of Dying until something new comes out in 2010.

And in honor of Veteran’s Day here in America – everyone thank a service man or woman today. And if you’re a veteran, or currently serving in any branch of our fine Armed Services – I just want to say,

Thank You!

Power to the People!

Make Love, Not War!

Give a Veteran some Tongue Today!

For my fine ferreted friend Ed who was wondering what, exactly, is DRM – I figured a quick explanation might be in order.

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, but it may as well mean Don’t Read Me ! It’s a method of encryption that prevents a file from being user friendly, and assumes everyone in the three universes are criminals, hell-bent on breaking the law and stealing money right outta your pockets.

And I’m not really exaggerating, honest.

A file protected by DRM can’t be opened by other applications, shared with people freely and openly, or altered in any way, shape or form. It was created for the paranoid who believe that the internet was created for porn, the world is flat, the moon is made of cheese and everyone is a thief.

Lemme give an example:

You bought a book (let’s say my latest In The Time Of Dying) it’s big and thick and has a lovely cover (hey, it’s my blog) and you’re all excited about sitting down on the couch with a hot buttered rum, propping your feet on the coffee table and cracking that sucker open.

Only you get halfway in to Chapter 2 and the kids come running into the room and turn on the TV. They’ve brought a big bowl of popcorn and just slipped in the DVD of Transformers 2, in surround. Well you’ve been drinking hot buttered rum, which frankly would make anyone a little queasy around popcorn and kids, and Transformers 2 is so loud you can’t hear yourself think.

So you get up, gather your mug of rum and your copy of In The Time Of Dying, and head out to the other room. You get comfy in the recliner, take a sip of rum and . . . can’t open the book!

Try as you might, you can’t pry the cover open. It’s just a paperback! You haven’t had that much to drink! What’s going on? You shake it, you flip it back and forth, you try again, but it won’t open!

Then you notice a little tiny print warning on the back: “This copy for Couch Reading Only.”

You’ve purchased a book that you can ONLY read on the couch, in the family room. When your wife walks by, you hand the book to her and ask if she can open it, and she can’t. Then she notices the warning – this book can only be read on the couch. She doesn’t want to go near the family room and the Transformers 2 noise, so she carries your book to the living room and sits on the pretty couch you barely use, but she can’t open the book!

WTF? She’s on a couch! Why can’t she open the book? It says right there “For couch reading only” But then she has a closer look.

Apparently that copy of In The Time Of Dying (stop it with the plugs already!) is only for reading on the couch IN THE FAMILY ROOM.

Frustrated, you grab the book and storm back to the family room, ignoring the din that is Transformers 2 on the surround, sit down on the couch, and damn if that book doesn’t just flop right open to your spot in the middle of chapter 2! Now you’re so frustrated, your blood pressure went up and it’s clouding your vision just a tad. You don’t really want to go find your glasses, so you bring the book closer to your face to make the text larger and BAM! It pushes itself further back.

Seems you’re not allowed to increase the size of the text. And don’t even think about turning on that reading light! You didn’t purchase a lighting option!

Well that’s a right pisser, ain’t it?

If you’d downloaded a copy of In The Time Of Dying from Smashwords, you’d have a DRM-Free copy, that allows you to read the book on your laptop on the couch, or from your Kindle at the kitchen table, or on the toilet using your PDA. You could even read it on the bus from your smartphone.

AND – if you were to find it so entertaining that you simply had to share, and really felt like screwing the author out of her $1.40, you could email that book to your friend, who doesn’t have a Kindle or a PDA or even a smartphone, but he could read it on his Sony eReader or his desktop computer.

(or you could buy a hard copy and read it in the tub, on a plane, in the kitchen, in bed, in the car, on your easy chair, at your desk, in the waiting room . . . )

Many people believe DRM is the savior of the universe, and will bring an end to illegal file sharing. It prevents Joe from buying a book, reading it, then loaning it to Kim, Karen, Frank and Earl. It also prevents Joe from taking his Kindle eBook and reading it on his laptop. Or taking his PDA-copy and sending it to his crackberry.

The rest of us see DRM as the most user un-friendly way to alienate your reading public.

Everyone has their own opinion, and should. But for me, it was very important to find a way to offer up my work in a DRM-Free environment. Does it mean sometimes people who didn’t pay for my book will get copies?

Sure.

Do small children steal candy? Yes.

Are all children candy thieves?

Obviously not. And having previously stated that I’m not writing for money, I can reiterate here that it means more to me to have Readers than Buyers. I wouldn’t post my work for free on the internet if writing for money was my only goal. I WANT Joe to buy a copy of the eBook In The Time Of Dying, fall in love with it, and loan it to Kim, who sends it to Karen, who emails it to Frank who has to share it with Earl. Because out of those four who’ve just read it without paying me, maybe one of them will love it so much they’ll buy a hard copy for themselves, or as a gift to someone else.

Of those four who’ve just read it for free, maybe three of them will come back and read my other work. Maybe two of them will follow me, and read new work as it’s published.

And maybe they’ll tell two friends, who tell two friends . . .

The music industry wasn’t prepared for the internet, and the resulting implosion created a thing we call Digital Rights Management.

In the publishing industry, it might as well stand for Don’t Read Me

So this week, just a couple of days ago, I signed up with Smashwords and published In The Time Of Dying through them as a cross-platform eBook, completely DRM-free, and I gotta say, it couldn’t have been easier.

All you have to do is sign up for an account – completely free – then read their formatting guidelines. It’s very important that you follow the formatting guidelines to the letter, in order for your eBook to work in all formats and have the professional, readable image you’re striving for.

The guidelines are a snap for anyone at all familiar with writing. Honestly, it’s just a matter of stripping your document of all the formatting garbage that Word has piled on, which can be done two ways:

Follow their step by step process to identify formatting issues and alter them one at a time.

OR

Copy and paste your entire Word .doc into Notepad and then back again to Word, then add the required front copyright notice and edition page. Notepad, or Wordpad will strip all the formatting right out of a document for you.

After that, you simply log in to your Smashwords account, publish your document, add a cover and some descriptive information, chose how much of your work will be offered as a free sample – the default was 50 percent, but I switched mine to 25. I figure if they wanna read it for free, it’s on the webpage.

In your Smashwords account, you can upload a profile image, and type in your biography, even direct people to your website or your Lulu account where they could purchase hard copies of the work.

You also set the price, just like Lulu they’ll show you right away what portion they’re keeping, so you can adjust the price accordingly. And since it’s a non-exclusive contract, I kept the eBook price there the same as at Lulu, so neither are in competition for price.

After that, it’s just a matter of giving Smashwords some payment information – they’re perfectly happy sending money to your Paypal account – and you’re set.

You can view how many times your sample has been downloaded, how many sales you’ve made, and you’ll get to see what other author profiles were looked at by people who’ve read yours.

It’s interesting, useful for us Indy authors, and I was making sales the very next morning. If your work qualifies (and in order to qualify you simply follow the format guidelines, provide a professional-looking cover art and own the work) then you’re listed in the Sony e-reader catalog.

But the best part about Smashwords is, not only do they create an eBook for the Kindle, the Sony eReader, the iPhone and Smartphones, they’re also – all – completely DRM-Free. Eventually I plan to have all of my novels available through Smashwords, so they’re more widely available and freely distributed.

When you’re an Indy, you need to utilize every avenue available for marketing and getting your novel out there, to the reading public, making the purchase of your book as effortless as possible. So far, Smashwords seems to be a fine addition to any Indy tool box.

Power to the People!

Make Love, Not War!

Did I just step in cat yak?